Enough is Enough !

After the previous incident, I had been scammed...

...again...

...again...

...and again...

"Am Autumn Oliver by name"??? Who the hell talks like that??? Did they Google translate Nigerian??? Can't they hire scammers with better English proficiency???

This was when I said to myself, enough! And I took down the advertisement on Mudah and decided never to post anything on it ever again. Unbelievable number of scammers! Gosh!

I have (almost) been scammed!

Yes, I have! And I survived to tell the tale...

The Baiting Stage

Like all scams, it began with greed. I posted an advertisement on Mudah to sell my used camera. The price I fixed was RM600, equivalent to USD133.75. It's amazing such a low price can attract scammers. I'm officially amazed.

Anyway, I received a WhatsApp message the next day, from a +234 number, a Nigerian country code. If you type "mudah nige" into Google search bar, these are the first things that come up.

Haven't even complete the word "nigerian", Google search bar tells it all.

The seemingly interested buyer, refer henceforth as "the Nigerian", told me he was from UK and wanted to buy the camera for his cousin in Sabah. He asked me to check the postage fee to Sabah, which I did. It was about RM16 via PosLaju.

Without much questions, the Nigerian asked for my banking details and immediately transferred RM1050 to my account. And all these, were confirmed by his bank, the First Direct Bank. The payable amount was only RM616 including postage, but he paid in excess of RM434. Now, this is the bait.

The Pre-Scamming Stage

According to the email from First Direct Bank, I needed to provide proof of postage before they would credit the money into my bank account, apparently to avoid money laundering.

First email from the bank. My bank account number is the number of times I died and reincarnated.

I was again amazed by how badly-written and unprofessional the email sounded, not the mention the grammatical errors. Can't I be impressed by a more skilled scammer? How can these scammers survive in such a challenging and harsh environment? How do they even compete with the better scammers?

So the Nigerian insisted that I post him the camera today, right away. Since I was bored, and have all the time in the world (don't ask why), so I played along.

Conversation with the Nigerian Part 1. The tracking number is a lottery number I trust will be announced this week.

He then asked for the PosLaju receipt, but of course I didn't have it. I just forged some Maybank2U online payment slip, took a picture and sent to him. It was a photo after all so I guess he couldn't tell that it was a fake. I even forged a PosLaju consignment note (don't ask how) and sent back to his First Direct Bank.

The Real Scam Stage 1

Now this was when the real thing came. He made a payment in excess of RM400! So, how? He asked me. F***ing call your bank and make changes, I suggested. But the problem was, the bank said no, apparently for security reasons. Wow, such customer service. And such high security.

Okay fine, I would refund the money after the transaction had been done successfully. Bank said no again, they needed to see the refund before they could credit my account. I repeatedly demanded reasoning behind this, as I wanted to see how clever they could get and what excuses they could come up with to get around with this. But the Nigerian guy kept saying it could not be done, I had to refund the money first etc. He just kept repeating the same thing, like a retard.

Conversation with the Nigerian Part 2. He wanted to delay my suspicion before the camera could reach him.

Conversation with the Nigerian Part 3. I made him believe that I will refund RM250 to him.

So I gave him what he wanted. I refunded the money to him. Of course I forged a Maybank2U online transfer slip again, which made me realized how easily it could be done. Something to note for future reference - be it a scam or anything at all.

The Real Scam Stage 2

So what happens when you successfully cheated someone of RM250? The answer is simple. The more the merrier!

Of course the amount RM1050 is too little to be transferred. Nobody transfer that kind of money okay. Of course you need a minimum of RM2000. What is anything below RM2000? The bank was very regret to inform me that the transaction had failed, because apparently their valued customer, the Nigerian, had never had a transfer less than MYR2000.00 with them!

Second email from the bank. Transaction had failed. 

Seriously... How can anyone fall for this? And that was not all. In order to be able to transfer the money, he had made an additional transfer of RM950 into my account, so now I had to refund him this very amount as well. It's so fun right! We love transferring money from one to another!

By that time I was bored beyond hope. These scammers, they are just not creative enough. I felt lazy to entertain the Nigerian anymore so blocked that +234 number on WhatsApp. He then sent another message from another number saying that I was trying to scam him. LOL. Nice try, Nigerian.

Well that was the end of the scam and yes I had a good laugh. I had two names and a RHB account number, which I thought belong to the scammer, or at least to someone linked to him. I had thought of filing a police report but then, this amateur scammer, why had he not been caught? His skills were stupid and he gave out bank account numbers. Those who got scammed (if any) surely had reported to the police. The only reason he was still out there, either because the PDRM didn't bother, or because he was some insider with PDRM or had linkage with them. If I were to report him, and I had played him that way, would he track me down and come for revenge?

Anyway, I figured I should still provide the information here, on my blog, for the sake of all mankind. Whether or not I file a report is another story. Without further ado, let me introduce the cast:
Mr. D***head Aizad Razi (it only appeared in emails hence it could be a fake name)
Mr. F***face Mohd Afzan Afiq, owner of RHB account 15211200049444

Asian Horror Movies

Being a fan of horror movies - especially those of Japanese, Korean and Thai - discovering this website was the best thing that ever happened. Asian Horror Movies is a website with thousands of Japanese, Korean, Thai, Hongkie and Indonesian horror movies to choose from. And it allows you to watch it online without needing to download anything. Though you need to wait for it to buffer but it's pretty fast if you have a good internet connection.

For some of the movies, the player sucks. The others, the player is good enough. All depends on your luck. Currently watching Phobia (2008) and the player is a good one. :)

My Purpose In Life

I've recently read ShinTien's blog post about one's purpose in life. I've cut and paste the article here:

The other day, I had an interesting conversation with a wise friend which revolved around the big question: “What is your purpose in life?”

If asked this question a few years ago, I would have quickly related the answer to be somewhat religious. And being a non-religious person, I was under the impression that I could never be able to give a satisfactory answer. True enough, I did not know the answer. I was so eager to give the right answer that my mind went blank thinking of one. I was intimidated by the question.

When faced with the same question once again a few days ago, I gave it a little thought and suddenly had a eureka moment. Right then and there. I came to the realisation that this question has no right answer, it’s really a question of opinion. I said smiling, “I know it’s a little vague, but my purpose in life is to be happy.”

My friend assured me that my answer was not vague at all. In fact she thought it was very specific. We discussed further and I arrived at some interesting conclusions about myself. Now that I know what my purpose in life is, I started to think about ways in which I could live my life, driven by that specific purpose.

We both acknowledged that the state of being happy is highly subjective to every individual, life situation and most importantly – timing. In my opinion, I will truly be happy when I have contentment in life. In order to be contented, I need to pursue all my “wants” to come to the stage where I could finally say “I am happy now.” Of course I cannot deny the complication of not knowing what I want. I might think I want something, but I wouldn’t really know until I got it. Agree?

Instead of pondering on my doubts, I decided to put things in action now. Well because life is short and I am not there yet! At the present moment, I think I will be happy if I can graduate by year 2012 and start living a life that I enjoy. Well, what kind of life would I enjoy? That’s another story for another post  

For now, I should focus to make this work. When come 2012, I will decide again if I am truly happy or….plan something else. I shall keep doing this until I find contentment in life. This may take me a few years or a lifetime (let’s hope it’s not the latter…). Then, I can be happy.

So tell me, what is your purpose in life…?

I used to asked myself the same question over and over again, in my high school years. There was once I felt really melancholic (I blame myself for being a typical piscean) that I started doubting the existence of the whole universe. I thought that it was pointless that the world existed - the whole damn world. I questioned the existence of God (if there ever was one) and his intentions. I believed that he created the world to watch the sufferings of mankind.

I was about 17 and at that age, thoughts come and go. Backstreet Boys, Jay Chou and Japanese drama series soon occupied my mind. And as I grew older, I realized that the purpose in life can't be given to you by others - you have to define it yourself. I have found mine - to enjoy life. 

The last thing I want, is to be tied up to my career. My career, is merely a stepping stone to earn me an ability to enjoy life. I want to be able to buy the things I like, to go to places I like, to do the things I like (blogging being one of them). And when the time comes, maybe I'll have a family. Why not?

And that, is my purpose in life. ;)

My Reading List

I just received my book ordered from the BookDepository.com last Thursday - Addicted to Unhappiness by Martha and William Pieper. Actually I was supposed to receive it by the end of February. But I think the book got lost somewhere along the airmail so I emailed the helpdesk of BookDepository and they offered me two options - either to send a replacement to me or I can have my refund. I asked them to send a replacement, so there it was, wrapped in good condition. And I got a really good deal. Because the same book costs about RM70 in Kinokuniya and they still want to charge me RM8 for postage. In BookDepository they don't charge postage fees and the book itself only costs about 14 USD (equivalent to RM50++). Good deal, right?

Anyway, now that I got the book, I realized I have like so many to-read-books in my list

First there is The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. I bought this book from Kinokuniya like, two years ago. I only read halfway though. It's not that the book is boring, no in fact it's totally interesting and intriguing. It just didn't come to me at the right time. Although I can't recall much of the story, I'm sure it will be a pleasant read if I had continued.

Then there is 鬼吹灯 (Ghost Blow Light) by 天下霸唱 (Tian Xia Ba Chang) introduced by Mr. Chin. It was written by an Internet writer and now it has got so famous that it was published into hard copy books (in four thick volumes) sold in bookshops and I heard there's a online game made based on the novel. The first two volumes were really good. It was scary, adventurous, funny, and most importantly, weird. I can only tell you about the first two volumes because I only managed to read until there. And again, it's not that the book is boring, not at all. It just didn't come to me at the right time.

Both of the above-mentioned books had been sitting on the top bunk of my bed (I sleep on the lower bunk of the double-decked bed) for God-knows-how-long. Then along came Lao Ann, who half-forcefully lend me The Five Love Languages (爱的五种语言) by Gary Chapman. It's a Chinese version, hence the translation. He said that every couple should read it, and he asked me to force Mr. Chin to read it too. I'm not very into self-help books so I laid it on top of The White Tiger.

A few weeks ago, I got hold of Lonely Planet travel books as to prepare my journey to Hangzhou, Shanghai, Tongli, and possibly Suzhou or Nanjing (it hasn't been planned in detail). I'll be going at the end of October as I've got cheap air tickets from AirAsia! Yes! RM420 nett two way! And I'll be able to go to World Expo 2010 (if we manage to get the tickets)! Yeay! Ok where was I? Right, the Lonely Planet travel books, burden-fully added to my reading list.

Around the same time my birthday was approaching. So naturally I demanded presents from my friends. And Audrey, she sent me an email attaching my birthday present from her. It was two ebooks - The Pilgrimage and Veronika Decides To Die by Paulo Coelho. Fortunately I had already read the latter a few years back. So she has only added one to the list. Though few days after that she sent another four - The Devil And Miss Prym, The Valkyries, The Manual Of The Warrior Of Light and The Witch Of Portobello, all by Paulo Coelho. I shall be thankful these won't be lying on the top bunk of my bed, but in my Yahoo inbox.

And around the same time I received Addicted to Unhappiness. And it just made me realize how long my reading list is, and made me feel that it's about time that I shorten it. Which is why I've been away from my blog for so long. Yes, I've been reading. ;)

The Colors Magazine

I've been following The Colors Magazine for almost a month now and it never ceased to impress me. It is updated very frequently (almost everyday, in fact) with categories ranging from fiction to traveling tips, from lifestyle to food, and sometimes they have this Fun Weekend that features 1 quote, 1 joke and 1 picture every weekend to help you fight away your Monday blues.

I especially enjoy the articles under Love Ramblings and Fiction & Poetry sections. Especially the latter, I've finished reading ALL of the short stories in about just one week. The author writes beautiful stories and poems. There are some posts that I felt the author could truly understand me, because what she wrote was totally what I think most of the time. And she could so easily describe some feelings that I couldn't put in words. Here are some articles / stories that I've selected, if you're interested.

• Sometimes You Love More
• When You Miss Someone
• Love Letters
• Yes: A Short Story
• The Journey

After reading all these I'm inspired to write some short fiction in my blog. I haven't any ideas yet but I will. And coincidentally there's a Blog Contest: Show Your Best coming up. Every month the best blog post will be selected to be the winner. Will start to look for inspiration next month to work on my short fiction (hopefully).

New Layout

An entirely new layout to welcome the new year.

And it's no longer dark and gloomy, just so that in the coming year I would be more optimistic towards life, hopefully. Somehow there's still some "depressing" element in it. I've included a blog header with a lonely cat, which I took during my trip to the Perhentian Island. The picture is kind of sad I think. And also I've chosen this layout with an angel whom I thought is kind of lonely and sad. It's just my opinion. =)

Anyone interested to get a cool blog layout can click here. They have quite a number of layouts for you to choose from.

Anyway, wishing everyone a very happy new year in advanced. =)

Hare Hare Yukai

I'm recruiting people to learn this dance with me. =) Haha... It's actually a closing song for a Japanese animation that I used to watch back in college. It's called "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya". This is the first season. The second season is actually released and I'm downloading it now. Looking forward to watching it. =)
And ya, whoever interested to learn this dance please get in touch with me. Hehe...

Oscar Winner Labrador

I saw this touching advertisement on a Taiwanese program in Astro Channel 317. The dog was so cute and I personally think his performance worth a Oscar. Just thought of sharing it with you. Enjoy. =)

15Malaysia

This morning Shin Tien recommended me to watch the videos of 15Malaysia. 15Malaysia, a short film project, consists of 15 short films made by 15 talented local filmmakers, including Yasmin Ahmad and Namawee. I thought I'd share it with you people. Only two videos were released so far. I've watched them and they're pretty good. Looking forward to view the rest.

View the videos here. Enjoy. =)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I am anticipating for this movie! Yes I am! The title itself already caught my attention. It sounds bizarre and I like everything that's bizarre. So I surf the net trying to find the trailer and the synopsis of the story. And I came across this. It's a website where you can read all kinds of novels, short stories, poems and plays online. (I even found Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Will be reading that next time.) Took me about 2 hours to finish reading The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was weird, bizarre, disturbing, and... weird.

The original short story is different from the movie synopsis. It's about a child who was born with a seventy-year-old self and when he was "growing up", the aging process reversed. And my first thought was... How the hell did a seventy-year-old man with a seventy-year-old physical appearance get out of his mother's womb? Anyway, never mind that. The story then went on with how his parents deal with this disturbing phenomena and how he fell in love for the first time at the age of twenty (with a fifty-year-old body and mind). The ending was quite predictable. He "grew" to become a baby; and died, I supposed. Towards the end I felt so disturbed, partly because of the story itself, mainly it was about the author's indifferent tone that I sensed. Despite that, I'm still looking forward to watching the movie. Maybe will write a review for that. Stay tuned. ;)

What type of writer should you be?

What type of writer should you be? Bloggers, go find out yourselves here. Know about this site from ShinTien. And I should be a poet!!!

You craft words well, in creative and unexpected ways. And you have a great talent for evoking beautiful imagery... Or describing the most intense heartbreak ever. You're already naturally a poet, even if you've never written a poem.

I can't help it if I'm such a talented and creative person...

Fellow bloggers, please do tell me what kind of writer should you be in the comments column. :)

Love Letters of Great Men

Browsing through Shinyin's blog I came across this love letter which sounded strangely familiar. Googling it made me remember that it was quoted from Sex and the City by Sarah Jessica Parker. I remember it kind of touched me.

Good morning, on July 7

Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us - I can live only wholly with you or not at all - Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits - Yes, unhappily it must be so - You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart - never - never - Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a wretched life - Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men - At my age I need a steady, quiet life - can that be so in our connection? My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day - therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once - Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together - Be calm - love me - today - yesterday - what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life - my all - farewell. Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.

ever thine
ever mine
ever ours

Found a website with a list of love letters written by famous people. Just thought of sharing it with you people.

watch Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, HK dramas online

I was randomly surfing the net when I came across this website that allows you to watch Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong dramas and movies online. For those who do not like to download dramas and movies (like me), this would be a good site to go. Truly feeding your drama addiction, http://www.mysoju.com/ provides a long list of dramas/movies (mostly Korean and Japanese) for your viewing pleasure. I find it quite convenient as I do not like to use bitcomet. Although I noticed a few of "under repair" dramas and movies, but the list is long enough for me to look for dramas that I've never watch before.

I'm now watching 1 litre of tears. A heart-warming Japanese series that tells a true story of a 15-year-old girl who had an incurable disease called spinocerebellar ataxia; and how she cope with the chronic disease that slowly destroyed her nervous system, taking away her ability to walk, speak, move, and understand. As I write I'm currently on episode 7, there's four more to go and already my eyes are watering like nobody's business. I usually am not easy to cry when watching movies. Any healthy living human beings should watch this, it made you realize how lucky you are to be alive, to be able to do things that you do everyday.